Before you read on, I must warn you. In this article I am going to be straightforward with you. I am going to reveal some truths that nobody has probably ever told you. I am going to be aggressive and assertive. I am going to use informal language and be provocative. But most importantly I am going to try and wake you up.

If you don’t feel ready yet, it’s OK. I understand. Take your time. I know that it always feel better to chill on your cozy couch, watch your stupid TV show, eat your unhealthy ice-cream and wake up the next day to go to your boring job.

It’s OK! There is no need to stress out about it. The world belongs to those who hustle anyway. As Abraham Lincoln very elegantly stated almost 160 years ago:

“Things may come to those who wait… but only the things left by those who hustle.”

Lincoln knew exactly what he was talking about. Born in a poor family, having to work from a very young age, he realized early in his life that the world didn’t owe him anything and that if he wanted to achieve great things, he had to go out there and hustle. And oh boy he did achieve some great things.

Most people, however, are not like Lincoln. Most people are full of excuses. “The economy sucks.” “I’m not naturally smart/athletic/gifted.” “I don’t have enough time.” You get the idea.

The bitter truth, however, is this:

“The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it.” – Jordan Belfort

So the choice is yours. You can keep telling yourself this bullshit story. It’s fine. Nobody will judge you. Nobody will annoy you. And most probably nobody will be interested in you.

If you realized however that you are not like most people and you decided that it is time for you to hustle, here are some pieces of advice that will prove precious along the way:

1. Diversity is golden – only dummies don’t have an exit strategy

Most of us live our lives totally reliant upon forces that dictate our success or failure. This “attitude” unfortunately contradicts to the Antifragility argument mentioned in one of my most popular posts. Total dependency on forces like:

• Your employer
• Your girlfriend
• Your family
• Your own product/service
• Your employees

And many other parameters that build up your existential paradigm, can never be a wise choice. I have already stated that considering self-employment is always a better way to go because you are not subject to your employer’s fragility. The same principle though applies to many other areas of your life.

When you are an entrepreneur, for example, I would strongly advise you to not rely only on one project. You should always have a diversified portfolio. Same when you are dating for example. Never rely only on one girl (Unless you have committed yourself to an extremely healthy monogamous relationship) because you are flirting with the idea of neediness and scarcity.

Chaos and complexity have forced us to accept that risk should be a crucial parameter of our interactions and decisions. So embrace it, be strategic about it and check out point 9 for further elaboration on the topic of risk.

2. Find the perfect balance between theory and practice

Once you decide what you want to be an expert on, embrace the fact that knowledge never ends. Create a strict schedule that forces you to read blogs, books and websites relevant to the area you want to focus on.

When I decided to start blogging, I started reading literally everything that exists out there. I made it a constant practice and it became a crucial part of my everyday life.

At the same time I was capitalizing on this knowledge by testing different styles and by trying to understand what works and what doesn’t. This resulted to finally discovering my personal blogging-style that was constantly evolving and being refined. Do that with any skill you want to cultivate.

3. Networking is the ace under your sleeve

If you introduce John to Steve and then Steve manages to help John in any way, then you made a great connection. Think of this event as another string in the tight network you are constantly trying to build. This network is like your bonus in your video game called life, that will eventually help you stand up when you are about to fall.

It is the invisible power that creates once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and opens new doors in your pursuit of success. Typical examples of such opportunities might include:

• Finding great employees
• Landing difficult interviews
• Meeting potential Business partners
• Extending your social circle
• Entering high-end nightclubs

4. Understand that people love FREE stuff

Expanding from my above point, we all need to understand that building a network has never been an easy thing. Nobody wants to help you for free. Not even your family. Embrace this idea, live by it and always have something to offer. Tangible, intangible, it doesn’t matter. You can give away anything. Things like:

• Ideas
• Advice
• Help
• Small gifts

Anything that will show others that you actually give a damn. When you get used to this mindset by making it a regular practice and start building the foundations of your network, then you will be ready to move to the next step. You will be able to move to a more refined approach and give people what they truly desire. And giving people what they truly desire, is the basis of becoming an hustler.

5. Never say a bad word about anyone

I once read the following aphorism:

It was written by Eleanor Roosevelt who is one of the few politicians I truly respect. Eleanor couldn’t be more true about her statement. If you take a moment and scrutinize your social circle, you will be amazed by how much sense this statement makes.

So my advice to you is this:

Don’t betray anyone. Don’t backstab anyone. Don’t step on anyone’s toes. Don’t gossip.

All these type of behaviors are implying a scarcity mentality and won’t help you get anywhere. The same way you are what you eat, the same way you attract what you are. If you want success and abundance, learn how to behave in a successful and abundant way. Let’s get one thing straight: There is enough out there for everyone. Your competition is not other people. Your competition is:

• Your procrastination.
• Your ego.
• The knowledge you neglect to learn.
• The antisocial behavior you are nurturing.
• The shitty food you constantly eat.
• Your lack of creativity.
• The wrong people you surround yourself with.

6. Don’t care about shit people say

Before you keep on reading, you need to realize one more thing. People will hate you for being a hustler. Our brain is designed in a way that forces us to feel competitive in order to empower our survival mechanisms. Only a few people have managed to defy this part of our human nature and move beyond conventional behaviors to higher thinking. So please stop whining about it and don’t let common thoughts affect you.

You know why I like writing? Because it helps me discover myself through helping others. And you know what I discovered recently? That once you care about what other people think you lost. I’ll support my point with an example. Check out this video of 2 cute babies talking to each other.

Now focus on the dislikes. 3627 dislikes! Who on earth does not like 2 babies talking to each other? As you can see a lot of people. Why would they even like You?

7. You are your own personal brand

Whether you are an entrepreneur, doctor, lawyer, young professional, college student, or sitting at home in your sweatpants dreaming of getting that perfect job, you are a BRAND. Give me a second to illustrate my point.

I know that normally when people hear the word brand they naturally think about huge corporations like Apple, Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, Sony, Toyota etc. These huge corporations are bombarding you with commercials and subliminal messages on a daily basis in order to increase their brand awareness and stay in your head as an established, well-respected existence.

What does this have to do with you? Everything! The same way the above-mentioned companies are trying to increase their value as a brand, the same way you should be doing that too. Examples of people who have managed to do this successfully among others, are:

• Richard Branson
• Tim Ferriss
• Russell Brand (even his name includes the word brand!)

They are their own personal brand and they do it in an exceptional way by focusing on 4 major principles:

• Their Expertise. What is your expertise? What is your competitive advantage? What do you know more than others?
• Their Image. How do you dress? How do you speak? How do you treat others? What does your Body Language convey?
• Their Message. What message do you want to pass to others? How do you want to influence them?
• Their Integrity. Are you truly saying what you believe or are you acting just to please others? Is your belief and value system in total alignment with your words and actions?

All these 4 factors are in absolute congruence with their existence and therefore people respect them, are inspired by them and consider them Authorities in their fields. Well, guess what. You can do that too.

8. Create your own luck

Luck? What is luck? Can you please define it for me? According to www.oxforddictionaries.com, luck is defined as follows:

Success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one’s own actions.

I always hated vague terms. Terms that were defined by intuition rather than reason. So let’s shed some light of reasoning on luck’s definition. It seems that luck is defined by using the words apparently and chance.

Chance: “A possibility of something happening.”

Apparently: “As far as one knows or can see.”

Both terms have something in common. In order for them to exist, they require a person’s action to be initiated. Chances and apparent situations are created by your willingness to pursue them. They are happening when you know where they are. Same does luck. When people use the term luck the wrong way, always have one thing in mind: They have no idea what luck really means.

9. Make risk your mistress

Risk is an instance that involves exposure to dangerous situations. It is this very fragile factor that can bring you from the bottom to the top and vice versa. It is the mistress you don’t really want in your life but you still do.

You are being gentle to her, enjoying her, nurturing her, but at the same time you don’t want to let her get too close. You don’t want to let her expose you to her volatility and greediness. She knows that you can have each other on very strict terms but when you see that these terms are close to being jeopardized, you need to know when to let her go.

Success doesn’t come without risk the same way desire doesn’t come without lust. Be aware of the secrets your desires are trying to unravel and open your eyes so you can see them.

10. Take responsibility of your failures, be honest, be patient

One of my closest friends, Bran, is a person that hates responsibilities. He is the typical guy who gets grumpy when he is being assigned a task. He is constantly drowned into passivity and sloth has conquered every aspect of his reality. As you can imagine he fails a lot. The problem however, is that he almost never holds accountability of his actions. He will always find a way to explain his failure by accusing somebody else or even lying about it. Consequently, this leads to lack of respect from everyone around him.

People will respect you if you know how to succeed but at the same time they will respect you if you know how to fail. Embrace failure and be strategic about it. Learn from your mistakes and capitalize on the lessons you learned.

Furthermore, in order to make this idea your practice you need to be honest with yourself and also with your surroundings. Say what you really believe and express yourself in a confident and elegant manner. Nobody can advocate for you if you don’t do it for yourself first.

But most importantly be patient. The same way Rome wasn’t built in a day, your new persona needs time to be sculptured. Go slow, take risks, be strategic and enjoy the ride.

Conclusion

I know that I was straightforward and a bit assertive in this article. I know that I have caused you frustration. But I also know that I have awakened some feelings that were hidden deep inside you and for various reasons you were suppressing them and weren’t helping them emerge.

Trust me, it is good that these feelings came out. They are the first step toward your complete awakening.Whether you will really wake up or not, that I don’t know. The choice is always yours.

Till next time.

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Andrian

Andrian is the founder and main contributor at The Quintessential Man - The only online community that offers a holistic approach to men's self-growth. We are striving to create high quality content by investing in a reality-based form of self-help, informed by a deep understanding of psychology, culture and our own personal experiences and social adventures.

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